Ireland’s first ever Climate Justice Charter is here!

Ireland’s first ever Climate Justice Charter is here!

Sign Ireland's First Climate Justice Charter
The young people of the Future Generations Project have created Ireland’s first-ever Climate Justice Charter. This is a major landmark in Ireland’s efforts to embed Climate Justice principles in organisations across the country.
But what is a ‘Charter’?
There are many definitions of the word ‘charter’ but in this case, it refers to a set of principles and guidelines that organisations agree to commit to.
The Agricultural and Rural Affairs Policy Officer from Macra na Feirme, Gillian Richardson said ‘we love that the charter is accessible for every organisation and every group of young people. From young farmers making a living to young people making change, there is something in there for everyone.’
The principles of the charter are written in a way that compliments the work that most organisations are currently doing. It seeks to deepen the whole-organisation approach to Climate Justice without creating more workload. Instead, the charter provides simple guidelines that can be referred to, to ensure a Climate Justice approach is being achieved.
Lee Cummins, Project Leader from Sphere 17 Regional Youth Service, stated that ‘the charter is beneficial for all organisations as it acts as a set of good practice guidelines that allows Sphere 17 to begin to truly embed Climate Justice at all levels – from our board of directors to the young people we work with.’
The Climate Justice movement will require a strong collaborative approach, and so the Future Generations project is calling upon all organisations to become signatories and join the Climate Justice Charter Community.
Organisations should join if they wish to recognise climate change as a crucial issue for young people and demonstrate their commitment to take action alongside the young people they work with. Furthermore, organisations that join the ever-growing Climate Justice community will benefit from Climate Justice training and events led by the National Youth Council of Ireland (NYCI) and the Future
Generations Project that will support whole-organisations; board members, staff, youth workers, volunteers, and young people.
TJ Hourihan, the Advocacy & Youth Information Service Coordinator at YMCA Ireland, commented that their organisation ‘love the Climate Justice Charter because its creation of it was entirely youth-led. It captures exactly what the young people wanted the charter to say and the capacity to convince others how the world should be.’
To learn more or join the Climate Justice Charter Community, visit
https://www.youth.ie/climatejusticecharter/. If you have any questions about the charter or how you can implement it within your organisation, contact Eimear Manning from NYCI at eimear@nyci.ie.

Meet Our Officers: Cárthach Ó Faoláin, Deputy President

 My name is Cárthach Ó Faoláin and I currently hold the position ofDeputy President in the Union. I come from the Rinn Ó gCuanachGaeltacht village in Co. Waterford where I attended both primary andsecondary schools; Scoil Náisiúnta na Rinne and Meánscoil San Nioclás.I recently moved to Cork City to study Law & Irish in UniversityCollege Cork.Previous to being elected last Spring, I had been active and remain tobe active in the Youth Empowerment/Youth Work scene locally andnationally. From the beginning of my secondary education I was amember of 'Waterford County (later a joint Waterford group) Comhairlena nÓg' where I sat on the National Executive (alongside our PresidentJane as it happens, who represented Cork County). Following my termending in Comhairle na nÓg I was invited to join the working group,the National Implementation team for Structured Dialogue in Ireland-'Young Voices' by a former Nat. Exec. facilitator. Here we work onimplementing EU youth policy in Ireland.Young Voices provided me with many opportunities to gain experienceand represent young people, such as speaking at many events aroundIreland, and most excitingly, I was selected to be one of three IrishYouth Delegates at the 2016 EU Youth Conference in Amsterdam,Netherlands last April, and will represent Irish young people again inKosice in Slovakia in October.Educational interests include Culture, Language, Education Reform andHealthy lifestyle and I hope to work on these themes during my term asDeputy President.